Cargo on seats? Not so easy…

by Thian Chow Vi; Senior Manager, Standards

2020 has been a year of learning; particularly learning to execute things that have never been done before.

With Covid-19 causing havoc across the entire aviation industry, Teleport has had to pivot drastically to ensure our business continuity and survival. With flight capacity cut by up to 95%, we had to make sure that air cargo continued to operate, especially in the delivery of critical medical supplies across Southeast Asia.

The AirAsia Group only operates passenger aircraft, which are not designed for cargo-only operations. However, one crucial learning point in 2020 was that the aviation industry is quick to adapt to ensure movement of crucial freight around the world. Across Europe and China, we started to see airlines using their passenger aircraft to transport cargo on the passenger seats. This has never been done before, and there are several key steps to take before even a single box can be placed on the passenger seat.

Many have asked why we did not embark on this immediately. The simple answer is safety. Aviation is the most regulated transportation medium in the world, and this is reflected in its safety record of accidents per trip. This is also why aircraft accidents always make the front pages of news outlets — perception dictates that a highly regulated industry should never encounter accidents. When an accident occurs, an in-depth investigation will be conducted, and the focus will be on these key factors; the equipment involved, people, the environment and organisational elements — as well as policies, processes and decisions made by management.

AirAsia now operates Transportation of Cargo in Passenger Cabin (TCPC) flights. which carries cargo on seats, overhead stowage compartments and under the seats.

Circling back to cargo on seats and how it all relates, any changes in policies and processes for an airline operator has to be approved by the local Civil Aviation Authority. This authority is the key organisation in any country that governs all regulatory approvals for civil aviation. To load cargo on seats, we would require approvals from the authority and for that we would need to conduct the following activities:

1. Obtain clearance from the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) to state that loading cargo on seats is possible (in our case, this would be Airbus, the aircraft manufacturer and BAE Systems or Mirus, our seat manufacturers). This is to ensure that weight and dimension limits are within the structural capabilities of the aircraft and seats.
2. Conduct a thorough risk assessment on the entire procedure, looking into the dimensions of the cargo loaded, the type of cargo and whether it would pose a hazard to the aircraft and crew. The key here is to introduce mitigation processes to ensure that safety is always covered. One element looked at here is the fire suppression capabilities, seeing that unlike a freighter aircraft, passenger aircraft do not have fire suppression systems equipped in the cabin. For this, we had to ensure that cabin crew are rostered for cargo in cabin flights and that additional fire extinguishers are made available in the aircraft. Passenger oxygen systems are also disabled to prevent a fire flashover.
3. Procure equipment to be used — this includes straps to secure the cargo on seats, and not just any ordinary strap. The straps used for this purpose have to be certified to aviation standards and must be able to withstand loads upwards of 2000kg. To protect the passenger seats, special fire resistant plastic covers must also be wrapped around the seats prior to placing cargo. All of these items must be prepared before any cargo can be loaded on seats.
4. Develop new procedures for pilots, cabin crew and ground personnel including aircraft weight and balance limitations, safety and emergency procedures and flight procedures. These include the amendment of aviation manuals as well as introducing new policies.
5. Ensuring cargo loaded in the cabin does not endanger the aircraft or crew. For this purpose, we have prohibited all dangerous goods from being carried in the cabin. Dangerous goods are cargo that require special handling and are usually transported in the aircraft cargo compartment, where there are fire suppression systems in place and the cargo is secure in specific holds. All cargo is screened prior to acceptance and this ensures that such dangerous goods do not enter the aircraft cabin.
6. Conduct trails of loading cargo on seats with all mitigations in place — with all processes and procedures in place, a trial was conducted to ensure everything works smoothly. This includes everything from the cargo acceptance process, to the handling and loading of the cargo on seats to ensure safety of all personnel and equipment.

With the above activities completed, we were then ready to submit our package to the authorities for approval. This in itself can be a lengthy process as even though there is only one authority per country, there are several sections within the authority that have to approve this new procedure. Fundamentally, any change in aircraft-related equipment would fall under the ‘Airworthiness’ section for approval and any operational changes would come under the ‘Flight Operations’ section for approval.

Finally, after months of pushing this through, we’re proud to say that Teleport has enabled this capability of carrying cargo on seats with our wider AirAsia Group family. There were many lessons to take from this, and the implementation of something new that has never been done before taught us the most. Huge thanks go out to the teams involved in this process. With this, we are able to increase our capacity per flight for cargo, ensuring the sustainability of our business and crucially, more supplies to those in need.